Emesinae

Taxobox
name = Thread-legged bugs

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image_caption = From left to right: "Emesaya b. brevipennis", "Pseudometapterus umbrosus", "Empicoris rubromaculatus"
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
classis = Insecta
ordo = Hemiptera
subordo = Heteroptera
familia = Reduviidae
subfamilia = Emesinae
subfamilia_authority = Pedro Wygodzinsky, 1966
subdivision_ranks = Tribes
subdivision =
Collartidini

Leistarchini

Emesini

Ploiariolini

Deliastini

Metapterini

Emesinae are a subfamily of the Reduviidae (i.e., assassin bugs). They are conspicuously different from the other reduviids by their very slender body form. They are stalking, predaceous insects that can be collected on palm fronds, cliffs, spider webbing, or near lights at night (many can be collected by blacklight). Very little is known about emesines except that many species are found in the tropics. Pedro Wygodzinsky wrote the most recent [http://hdl.handle.net/2246/1675 monograph] of this group.

Biogeography

The Emesinae are world-wide in distribution; however, they are most abundant in the tropics. For example, the tribe Metapterini, while having a world-wide distribution, has the majority of its diversity confined to tropical islands. The center of emesine diversity is apparently Africa. This continent contains the only species of the most plesiomorphic tribe, the Collartidini, while a more derived tribe, the Deliastini, is restricted to South America.